Kingdom Hearts Anime: Constellations
by Silent Avera
Summary: "When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you ar-OHSH-"...Hoping can take you halfway across the journey, knowing will get you there, but beyond the Disney Borders there is neither. To save it all, the same must be risked.
1. Mandorla

Finally, my pride and joy is back X3

[NOTES]: Reading notes is optional, as always, skippy down to past the vertical period line to start the tale :3

FYI: Sometimes my chapters are monsters like this, but if they're broken down into smaller chapters, it will be easier to read no? And the 'real' entire chapter will still get posted anyway. I just wanted everything to be together for the first one :3 Yes, there are OC's abound in the first chapter, but the next one will have the main man of the event Sora and his crew in action.

**What you'll find here:** Anime cross-over's a plenty with tiny spits of other animation, but the main focus will be on le Anime. The time-line is after Re:Coded (not for the first chapter however), and there will be spoilers to all Kingdom Hearts games up till Re:Coded and a dash of KH 3D. [END NOTES]

.

.

"Regrets collect like old friends,  
>Here to relieve, your darkest moments -<p>

I can see no way, I can see no way...  
>And all of the ghouls come out to play<p>

And every demon wants his pound of flesh,  
>But I like to keep some things to myself,<br>I like to keep my issues strong,

It's always darkest before the dawn" - _Shake it Out_, Florence + the Machine

.

_No one is going to remember tonight this way but us. They will pinpoint another night when the clock's hands stopped._

_Tick, tock, tick, tock~_ A boy with raven's blue wavy hair sits at a desk made of ivory within a room full of regal splendor. _Tick, tock, tick, tock–_he knocks his platinum trimmed clock on its back, the spring inside bouncing well out of ticking anymore with a dying _ding~_ He is up well past his bedtime, but his candle is running low, his heavy cadet grey eyes are on the brink of retiring anyway, strained from drawing a picture of a breed of antelope known as the Oryx in the style of ink wash painting. For an eleven year old, his calligraphic strokes rivaled that of his art professor, his wrist moving as gracefully as the sweeping steps of a ballet dancer. "Beautiful creature," he speaks to the drawing.

A little girl with her dirty-blonde hair in pigtails hides underneath her rose blankets from the tree branch tapping feverishly at her window. A poem written in sadly crafted calligraphy sits unfinished on her desk surrounded by a menagerie of plushies swollen with kawaii adoration. She peeks out from her covers to plead to the dragon posters that surround the head of her bed to protect her once again.

A boy with a mop of red hair tosses and turns, snoring in his beat up trunk of a bed within an even more decrepit room. A collection of mecha toys lay scattered about his floor, and some in pieces. Snuggled in his arms is a homemade doll of a crocodile that has been stitched together and washed just about as much as he was. Shinning in from the glossy window of his room (and right on his face) is the glow of a neon lit city; his own room in fact is about as lit as if his ceiling light was on just from the outside glare, but it would take much more than that to wake this boy up from his sleep.

_Irrelevant. Until the time comes when they are commandeered for a greater purpose, all the choices they make for themselves are inherently irrelevant with the turn and lock of key a million miles away._

A little boy with spiky brown hair, and a little boy with silver dropped hair rest upon the beach at night amongst the evening glow of houses. Their parents are expecting them home soon, but this island holds about as much malice as the sea shells that wash up upon the shore. Their small foot prints are the only things that have trailed them.

_When that lock was turned, their fates were sealed within their bedrooms, under the night sky, and under the omniscient glow of Kingdom Hearts, and likewise, they were released._

The silver headed one tilts his head at a curious sparkle in the night sky; his luminous green eyes reflecting a small glint of concern. "Look," he points, "See how it's flickering like that? It's about to go out."

"Stars can go out?" asked the other, "What makes a star go out? Is someone playing with its switch?"

_Never underestimate how good a hearing a child's heart has._

_Tick, tock, ti__**c**__k, toc__**k**__, ti__**ck**__, toc__**k**__, t__**ic**__k, t__**oCk**__…_Fate is kind_…_She brings to those who love the sweet fulfillment of their secret longing. Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through.

_For when all the sparkling dots in the night sky are connected and blind, they will be the only ones who close their eyes, and listen._

_._

The air was brisk and still that night, it was always that way after a good cold front came through pushing the muggy humid clouds clear of the atmosphere to leave a million points of light speckling the night sky; a sight only rivaled by the millions of watts keeping the sparkling neon glow of Tokieo Town powered underneath.

Everything had a slight sheen of wetness to it between the competing biting cold of the night air and the humming warmth of energy from the city. People were closing up their businesses, pulling the protective plated tin down over their windows, checking security systems, locking doors, and anticipating the comfort of home.

"Have a good night Cid, maybe that Gummi ship business will get off the ground tomorrow."

"T'eah!" the man talked through this cigarette as he lowered the protective metal over his windows, "Not too many folks seem to be into the flyin' business these days."

"Well not many people have permission to travel in the first place! You take care now!"

"Yeah, yeah, have a good night yourself."

Past the tall pearly gates of the Wayward Lights Institute the air turned colder. The great white architecture of open square buildings was nestled upon several acres of land that overlooked the city from afar. The distance made Tokieo Town look like a single glowing entity of millions of colors with Tokieo Tower sticking out like a stream of beads bent upwards in an elegant upside down "V".

It was darker here too. Only the lights of the Institute were permitted to touch its own face; the lights from the stars were dimmed under the high-pitched buzzing of industrial illumination.

It was commonplace for the Institute to burn the midnight oil, for when the lights of Tokieo Town grew sleepy, there was always a burning stagnant brilliance emitting from the research facility where progress would not be halted by the exhaustion from sky nor man. When the sister Institute's motto was "Keep moving forward" the motto of Wayward Lights was "Brilliance that outshines the sun".

One particular scientist, a beacon in her field, Bioluminescence Theory and Applied Methodology, walked the spotless white hallways with her jaw clamped tight. Her long flowing silver hair bounced slightly to her assertive steps, and her sharp almond eyes were cloudy to the future she was pacing towards.

The chill inside from the over achieving air conditioners were a match for the unsettling chill outside. The condensation taking the position of drops of sweat over the woman's brow, her brain working furiously in going over the plan in her mind, the plan that would be captured in 32 frames by the one security camera she was unaware of.

It would be a work of art in defiance.

She adjusted her title pin on her lab coat jacket, nodding her head towards lab assistants that smiled and waved, some even bowing before her with their hands outspread, "We are once again blessed to be in the presence of Dr. Isabella!"

Isabella replied with a fake smirk, "Do me a favor and run a diagnostic on my baking Auras would you?"

"Ugth, but that's in building E! And…" The assistant showed his timid side by tapping his index fingers and curling in his body inwards, "its dark outside."

"Then take a flashlight, put it to your ear, and use the light that shoots out of your eyes to guide your way."

"Buh, wha?"–

"_She means like this"–_another lab assistant took the liberty of snatching a flashlight and shinning the light straight up upon her face contorted into a howl with every horrific feature lined with hard shadows–

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" –_

"Get back here you coward!"

Dr. Isabella rolled her eyes hearing the rapid pair of footsteps fade away, she never once looking back however; it was enough to know that those two wouldn't be caught in the aftermath of her actions. *Just keep moving forward,* she told herself, *They won't suspect anything.* Her vision was focused and tunneled from the tight channels of the hallways, hallways always so white, so very clean. Alas this kind of focus dares the brain to wonder and wander, and despite the ferocity her brain was computing every disastrous outcome, a detour did indeed gently overtake her thoughts to the sound of waves, a beach, a dark ocean, and an even darker land.

~.~

"Stupid clock, _hunk of junk"–_the sound of cheap metal hitting a wall greeted pigeon toed feet as they made their way to a beat up wooden door with a glimmer of light spilling out from underneath.

"Dad?" The young boy with the mop of red hair pushed open the door to his father's study, his face was pale, his green eyes soaked, and he was gripping his plush crocodile tightly.

"Ruh-Ragiel?" his father (bearer of even messier red hair and even greener eyes) looked up from a scribble of thoughts over paperwork, he immediately left his desk (his dank jacket catching slightly on the chair) and went to his son's side, "What's wrong laddie?" he placed his hand on Ragiel's head. "Don' tel'me you'e been having some nigh'mares now?"

"Muh-maybe a little, the one, with the mad ocean, and land, and, and sky."

His father cupped the son's pouting cheeks, _"A bhobain_, it's just a dream. It's o'er when you wake up isn't it?" he kissed the top of Ragiel's head, "You go on now back to bed, you know your father isn' goin' to let anything happen to you."

"I know Dad, but…"

"But? Who thinks they can take your ol' man on?"

Ragiel's lips began to quiver, "The world Dad," his voice broke, "I heard it through the dream, _it's so angry Daddy,"_ tears spilled out, _"It's so mad…"_

The father took his son in his arms, _"Bà, bà, a __thasgaidh_, it's alrigh', it's alrig't." The father gave a glance out the high, high-rise window towards the Wayward Light Institute far off in the distance, his keychain rattling.

"_They tore everything apart (*hic*)…"_

~.~

_Step, step, step, step,_ Isabella's sharp footsteps brought her back to reality, her feet walking swiftly upon the steady ground. The Friction it was called, an old tale of warning about the warring sea, land, and sky that would always slip from her old uncle's mouth when he was on the verge of sleep, but what it was warning of, she could only guess since he never did say the ending; his sleep always clipped it. And when she asked about it when he was awake, he would laugh and say it's just a fairy tale to scare children and nothing more; there was no ending, and that scared Isabella the most.

From when she was little, she and her older brother _knew_ that their house was female, they _knew_ the ocean was mischievous, that the mountains were stoic, in many ways, they knew their imaginings of the land, the sea, and sky were more than just components of a world, but alive, and it fueled their respected pursuit of knowledge until they could talk with the very stars that overlooked their sleep since the time they were infants.

But of course when their fantasy became reality, that was when the nightmares became real too.

Isabella straightened her lab coat, a nervous tick. The world knew. It had to. The building seemed to push its walls ever so slightly away from Dr. Isabella, like someone trying to avoid being touched by a flickering, poisonous flame. Even her own reflection from the clean, clean walls seemed to steal a glance at her for what she was about to do. It was treason, it was risky, it was a death sentence, but she had to do it. Her brother might never learn why she would disappear tonight, if she disappeared, if she could make it out alive then–no, no, she had to focus. She could not afford any mistakes, as much as she wished the building itself to just make a straight linear path for the exit, that wasn't going to happen. This part of the path she had to walk alone.

Every hallway she was passing now contained higher and higher levels of the ceiling and security, and she had access to them all, down to the very core of the facility, to its most guarded lair deep buried within the world. The hard part really began in getting past the Door; she would have to mask her purpose with layers and layers of memories of her previous work, otherwise her mission would end right then and there.

By the time she approached the final hallway, the ceiling was as high a five story building, and with good reason, the Door wasn't an object to be snipped of its grandeur. A woman was inside an electrical booth covered in mysterious pink shimmering glass and connected to a mechanical arm that held it well out of reach of the ground; she perked up at the doctor's entrance, "Welcome Dr. Isabella, right on time for your appointment with them as always~!"

"Just let me through Tsuki."

"Yes m'am," pipped the gate guardian as she began entering code after code after code into her monitor to bring to life the great hovering double doors that resembled nothing less than the décor of Kingdom Hearts with a multitude of wires connected to it like veins, "but I should notify you that an official Sovereign Researcher is with the children right now, I think his name is, uh, Kur, Kurchity? (*Giggle*) Well something like that, I'm sorry you weren't notified sooner about his time slot overlapping yours." Tsuki made her monitor display a window within, "Oh he is so good with children; they really like him!"

Isabella shed every curse she knew in her head. "Well," she said calmly, "You know how they just like to pop in whenever they wish to; I swear it's as if they don't trust us or something."

"In my honest opinion m'am, I don't think it's a problem with trust. The Geologists are all reporting that the stars are shuddering, and you know, well, you know what your brother found….The Sovereigns checking in on their investment calms their nerves, as well as everyone else's. The work you and your peers do is nothing short of the lifeline against, (*gulp*) _th-them._ Despite what you have made, you're the real angel here!"

Isabella would have loved to have pounced through the Mystic* glass and pounded Tsuki till she was nothing but a fleshy stump that fills so many of the underground bioware-houses. Why, why must the gate guardians be people of such hearts that are so happy and disgustingly bubbly and stupid? Hell, the computers do all the work anyway; they only need the power from these hearts to do their job right.

"Ah! Speaking of angels, I have your new applicants for the Wielder program, boy they just keep getting younger every year! This boy named Den, Den, uh, Den-djue? Oh that can't be his real name, anywho, he looks like the front runner this year."

The mechanical arm lowered whilst Isabella breathed soothing, happy thoughts about how she was not going to strangle Tsuki, not going to strangle Tsuki, not, not, not, nope-nope~ She would allow the length of her anger to just give Tsuki a narrowed eyed glance, however when face to face with the guardian, Isabella gasped in silent horror.

Tsuki's eyes were completely blackened, _black,_ as if they had been removed completely, "Ah, is something wrong Dr. Isabella? You look upset. Err, oh! That's right, you're going inside, silly me, I'll just hold onto these documents for you until you get back~!"

Before Isabella could react further to blow her cover or save it, the large beautiful double doors opened inwards, cut by a crease of insanely bright light that engulfed her completely, sheathing her from a still perplexed eyeless Tsuki, and once gobbled up by the light, the doors closed promptly behind her, the light disappearing upon the thick click of a lock unseen.

Upon that click, Tsuki's computer began screaming out an alarm, "WARNING, WARNING, OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE DETECTED, CONTAMINATION OF KINGDOM HEARTS DETECTED. CONTAMINATION OF KINGDOM HEARTS DETECTED, UNKOWN ABSORPTION OF THE NATURE'S RADIATION RISING. GATE OPENING, WARNING, WARNING–"

"Oh that's not good…"

Windows and actions raced across the computer's monitor flickering commands with the blink of an eye, the keyboard typing with unseen hands, the lights within the spacious room beginning to flicker as a roar of mechanical movement shook the underground.

"This is the day you are going to eat my heart isn't it?"

The light, though artificial, was never-the-less as powerful as if having been shined from the depths of the real Kingdom Hearts itself. It was _the_ final security measure in measuring a person's bioluminescence, their aura, the radiation from their Heart, with a few slight modifications however.

It didn't matter that Isabella's eyes were tightly clamped shut, the light went straight to her brain, numbing it with blinding exposure as it explored her turbulent thoughts back to Tsuki's blackened eyes that bore through her confidence in her success in this venture–"Ah!"–_she would also get nowhere if the Light* sensed her true intentions_–which it then plucked right out from her weakened cacophony of mental barriers like a blue heron snapping up a dull guppy–*SHIT!*

Isabella's heart shot up to her throat–the pounding from her heart surely was going to break her chest wide open well before the defense barrier would, but then the pain subsided, and the drilling Light* faded away revealing a wide-open room that was without a doubt a children's nursery, minus any noticeable exits.

Isabella stumbled to the ground, trembling terribly, _*How on earth did I just get through?*_ Again Tsuki's blank eyes bore through her mentality, and contrary to what Tsuki had said was happening within the nursery, not surprisingly, but just as despairingly, Isabella hadn't heard a word from either the scientist or the two precious children he was dealing with.

She pushed herself up, looking all about like a distraught animal–scattered toys were kicked about, kiddish crayola drawings evolving into master works of art were partially ripped from the walls, one barely hanging by a pin, the plastic play-castles for toddlers looked like someone had taken a bat to it, story books were a mess, painted chairs and tables were broken, the windows were cracked, some broken, the illusion of outside spoiled by partially churning black and white television screens. Some screens were broken through so thoroughly that the first of several thick layers of synthesized Starbit metal fused with the world's Mortal Barrier* were showing through with pink glints; a lot good that did protecting now. The screens that still worked showed animations of long flowing planes ending in faded mountains with incoming storm clouds.

And for all the chaos the room displayed, a neat pile of an assortment of dolls mocked the scene around it.

A sickening chill sparked Isabella's nerves up her back and down her legs, her hand covering her mouth from the fear induced nausea, _*Oh no…_* There were doors with small windows that led to other rooms connected to the main nursery, but this central room was where the children and scientist were supposed to be, and it was empty, as were the other rooms with the windows darkened and offering no signs of occupation. Isabella's breathing was hitched, sharp and uneven now, CLEARLY there was a problem, _had been a problem_, and not a single scream was heard, _or seen_.

Tsuki's eyes, _blackened,_ surely all the other gatekeepers must have been hit the same way, but the defense Light*, _altered?–Had the children already been taken? _Who could have done this under the nose of the Wayward Light Institute?

_An invisible camera with a blue lens zoomed in on her._

Isabella wanted to break down and cry, was this revenge from Kingdom Hearts itself? To have let this monster inside and leave Isabella to witness the aftermath, the pointless sacrifice she was about to make?

She dropped to her knees, bending from the crushing weight of despair, her crying whisper barely audible_ "Avera? Annelle?"_

She heard a sniffle to her right, there, in the play-castle–Isabella was by its side in a scramble and several long leaping steps, "There, _there_ now–I'm here," she popped off the top of the reclining plastic castle and found the twins within in their simple white silk clothes. The dark haired one with red and green hazle eyes greeted her first, Annelle, he holding the one with the fairest light blue hair with light yellow bangs and eyes tightly clamped shut with tears, Avera.

"_He came back,"_ Annelle hissed, his young voice barely distinct through his whispered anger, "Tried to take it right out of him this time, but I wouldn't let him. Not this time, _**i**_T_'__**s**_o_**Ur**_S_."_

Annelle's melodic voice ending in an unholy mangle shot more sparks of fear throughout Isabella's body, her nerves were at their wits end enough as it was, "What did you do to him Annelle? Where is he?"

"He hurt Avera. I covered up what was left with our dolls."

Isabella turned to the doll pile and decided she didn't need to see what was keeping the scientist from popping out in surprise at any moment. This both eased and complicated things greatly, she had no idea the length of what the Singed* eyes of the Gatekeepers could see, but so far with no alarms ringing, they perhaps just saw what was supposed to be happening, a physical examination of the children, so to speak, the taking of their Pulse*.

_Tsuki was slouched back in her seat, her body convulsing as a plug stemming from her computer was buried in her chest, directly suckling on her heart. _

"This should make the Institute happy at least mother, I'm finally leath–"

"_HUSH! What have I told you about calling me that?"_ Isabella snapped at Annelle, she paused, gave herself a moment, "Listen, to me," and composed herself–

"_Mother"–_

"_Don't, don't,"_ Isabella choked out, threatening to smack her seriousness into the child. "What have I told you about administering your powers like that?" she said as she picked the twins up out of the castle together, Annelle still tightly clutching Avera, "You understand what you have done don't you?"

"I do," said Annelle, "I protected him."

"Break* _only_ if you need to, to protect, _only_ to protect yourselves–do you understand me?"

"Yes."

"_Isabella" –_

"It's going to be okay Avera," she replied setting them both down on a painted table. Finally those remarkable hazel (his being the specific mixture of blue, green, and yellow) eyes of Avera's opened up with several tears falling out onto his caretaker's hands. "Okay now, no, no let me see, I know its sore darling, but I need to see it to make sure it's healing properly."

Annelle helped move Avera's hands away from his chest as Isabella examined the cruel marks resembling an electronic plug over Avera's heart–before they disappeared, "Oh that's wonderful, your body is healing at twice the rate from before now!"

"I can still feel him," Avera cried with a quivering lip, _"It hurt so much"–_

"I know sweetie," said Isabella pulling him into a hug, "I'm so sorry I couldn't stop him, but no one is ever, _ever_ going to touch you like that again."

"_Promise?"_

"I promise," said Isabella and Annelle together.

"Because you know what?" said Isabella with a smile, taking hold of both Avera and Annelle's hands, "When we go on our walk to the Chamber of Dreams facility, we're going to take a special detour this time, one that won't ever bring you boys back to this room again."

The twin's eyes grew wide, "We're leaving?"

"Forever," said Isabella breathlessly. She aimed to take them to the Dark Margin, their pursuers would never suspect them to hide there of all places; they feared the darkness far too much for even their rational thought. From there her brother would pick them up in his Star Traveler, and these children would be out of these basterds' teeth forever…Now she just had to get them to that glitch in the building, that one glitch, a favor of all favors from her greatest asset in this escape, but like a beetle nibbling ever so diligently on a leaf, a crumbling reminder they were on the cusp of failure threatened to implode Isabella–_black eyes_, what was this other force interfering? Was this escape already doomed?

Isabella's thoughts were hushed as Avera leaped up to give her the biggest hug, the moment then promptly shattered by the young boy's scream seeing the newest threat behind the woman–Isabella whipped around, screaming herself when looking upon two large red eyes glancing in through the fake broken windows.

Annelle put himself between his family and the red eyed beast, but Avera screamed again–this time large _cold_ blue eyes were looking in through the opposite side. These creatures, blue eyed and white, and red-eyed and black, were seemingly so great in size, the screens were barely big enough to encompass the calculating glance they used to study the woman and children.

"YOU KEEP YOUR CLAWS OFF THESE BABIES!" Isabella screamed, "THEY ARE NOT YOURS! THEY ARE FREE–_FROM EVERYONE!"_

Isabella's declaration echoed around the room into a stinging silence.

The red-eyed beast narrowed its gaze, and a low hum with a steady beat began to sound, the red-eyes bouncing in glee, _the beast was laughing._

Isabella felt Avera trying to reach for something behind her, she whirled back around to the blue-eyed beast breaking the boundary between illusion and reality by having pushed its white snout into the nursery–"NO!"

Annelle pushed his brother's hands back to himself with Isabella taking both children in an iron-tight grip–but Avera's beautiful hazel eyes were turning gray, and darker!

"_Mommy it burns! I can't see!"_

Isabella kicked a table up and set Avera on it, "No, sweetie, don't rub them, just wait, just wait…" Now was the moment of truth, for all the crimes against existence she committed in the name of protection and science, if she really did bioengineer these children with the power they would need to break these chains.…Avera's eyes turned completely black, and Annelle choked on shock for what was done to his other half–Isabella swiftly grabbed his arm as the furious twin howled at the beasts for revenge, clawing air in what he wished was their cursed hearts, black and red wisps of energy sparking around his ears and finger tips–

And then, the blue eyed beast removed its snout, and the red eyed beast stopped its laughter.

Avera's eyes were regaining their color, slowly, surely, until they were their brilliant hazel once more–Isabella was completely beside herself with joy in a planting a kiss on each one, Annelle jumping up and doing the same.

The beasts pulled back, their iris' thinned to slits–

"You have no power over them."

"RRIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAA"–twin earth shattering roars shook the woman and children to their cores, stretching the nerves that held their bodies, hearts, and souls as one to their breaking points–the room shook, the walls cracked, the remaining screens all blotted out nixing the image of the beasts, but the earth-breaking roaring remained.

A glowing crack suddenly broke in space, stretching wider and wider into a gorge threatening to tear the entire room asunder–

"_Mom! Momma move!"_

Annelle pulled Isabella with Avera away from the shinning gorge, their incredible self-healing sparing them against the distortion onslaught, but the less fortunate Isabella could barely crawl with their urging, her body outweighing their combined strength. She was thoroughly grounded by the chains of her mortality, she couldn't even comprehend anything that was happening anymore, her body/being was becoming scrambled from the inside out!

"MOMMA WALK! MOMMY WALK AWAY THE LIGHT!" but Isabella collapsed, her being reduced to a puddle, the gorge then split itself even wider, and half of Isabella's body went over the edge–

"_MOM!"_

The twins tried to haul her back over the edge, but she slipped farther and farther out from their little hands,_ "Ah"–_

Avera looked down seeing the floor starting to glow, and getting very, very, VERY hot–that smell, they were smelling themselves beginning to cook! Pictures, books, burst into flames–the twins shared terrified glances–so what would it be? Burn to death or rot in infinity?

The decision was made for them when Isabella's body finally went over the edge, taking the grasp of the twins with it.

~.~

Alarms shrill and long began to sound throughout Tokieo Town, Ragiel's father set his son down and called forth his keyblade, an ancient design of black stone edged with metal and red and green vines.

"_Dad"–_

"What ha'e I told you abou' where home is Ragiel?"

His son gave a hiccup, squeezing the life out of his crocodile, "Home is where the heart is, (*sniff*)"

"An' you are mine, and I will always return to you, no ma'er what." His father gave his son another kiss on the head before using his wind magic to snap open the window allowing him to leap right out onto the roof of their house. Ragiel was left to watch his father race like the wind towards the Wayward Light Institute over the tops of buildings, the Institute looking like it was becoming wrapped in slithering white smoke.

~.~

For a moment the twins and woman were suspended though silent air, hovering in the Light*–_GROUOP_–the sound of a great thick body bulged behind them, daring the twins to look back–a monster, a demon amassed from distorted and overbearing limbs with two sets of ripped wings, translucent and white with its own pearly flesh slithering all around it. Its stocky head opened its set of giant jaws that were as big as a house with large black teeth, its black ghastly eyes set upon the twins and Isabella–about to chomp down on them all–the boys could see all the way down its throat that led to nothingness, black as the eyes of the Singed*–and then they were on solid ground, the synthetic Kingdom Hearts shutting firmly behind them containing a loud neck breaking _**THUMP**_ within, and a pained, furious snarling growl.

In a second Annelle was on his feet, black electricity popping around his eyes and ears and fingertips that bristled up his moppy black hair, he wanted to tear into something so desperately, but there was hardly a challenge in waiting.

The once well lighted room was now almost completely dark. The lights and shattered Mystic Glass* around the electrical booth were barely lit from a dying electrical source. The mechanical arm that held up Tsuki's prison had crashed to the ground, sparks of electricity offering brief illuminations of mangled metal. The twins could hear Tsuki's broken computer speaking aimlessly in repetitive patterns with a voice completely made out of base, each cycle of the pattern growing slower and slower, and deeper and deeper, until the sound buried itself out of existence.

Their eyes spotted movement, and they were ready for a fight, but again it wasn't anything of a challenge at all. It was barely seeable in the darkened spacious room, but pinned underneath the crashed mechanical arm that held up Tsuki's prison was an Invisible heartless, its clawing attempts at gripping the ground futile at getting itself out.

Now the twins were schooled well about these kinds of Emotionless, the heartless, but this heartless was very easily capable of getting itself out, why it chose to struggle so poorly and pathetically like that was beyond them except for presenting itself as a sitting duck.

Annelle wasted no time, and with a simple glance, a black bolt with a red core dispatched the heartless at once.

Isabella coughed back to life, her white attire was singed, but her burns didn't stop herself from solidifying back like ice from the puddle of distortion.

"M-Mom…"

She was certainly conscious enough to give Annelle a one eyed glare.

Steam and electricity busted out of the wires/veins connected across the synthetic Kingdom Hearts, the three scuttling away quickly as to not get popped by the wiring flailing about like eels caught on a hook. The doors sank to ground with a crumbling thud, and the wires immediately dropped, the doors settling askew with hairline cracks ticking broken paths across its face.

"Thank-you," Isabella whispered, though not sure whom she was thanking.

The scientist looked over at the crash site, at the broken Mystic* glass that grew dimmer and dimmer with each second.

"There was a heartless there, but I killed it," said Annelle.

Isabella acknowledged him with a nod and single pat on the head.

"It was all trapped underneath the arm, wiggling like it was stupid, like it didn't know what to do."

A huge wave of emotions surged up to bring just the slightest sheen of tears in Isabella's eyes before she quickly blinked them away.

A glance around the room and hallway foretold the rest of the building, and quite possibly the entire Institute, and more...Everything was eerily quiet, the alarms were silenced, if they ever really went off at all. There were no screams, hasty footsteps, or even sounds of combat; at least for their sake of escape the amount of people between them and the exit was drastically reduced from fleeing or otherwise. Certainly whatever happened, happened fast, _very fast_, she knew she wasn't in the twin's cell for more than 10 minuets! _5 minuets?_

"Isabella, what happened?" Avera asked with a tremor, "An Untouchable, an Untouchable was inside the Door…."

"_What?"_

"But the Door stopped it," said Annelle, "It's gone."

"Your legs…"

Isabella looked at her legs, patches of black, as if parts were bitten by frost bite were smudged all over her. *The Distortion…Dammit…Radiation from the Gates, _oh this sucks,*_ Isabella spotted another patch on her hand, and then her sleeve rolled down revealing another patch tracing her arm. Her body entered a mode of hypersensitivity with her skin pinpointing all over her body the patches of her ruin.

The twins looked back and forth at one another to Isabella who looked at the patches with silent awe, "Izzy what are those black patches all over you?"

"There's another one on your neck."

The thought entered her mind clear, plain, and final: She was not going to get out of this building alive.

Isabella propped herself up with her arms, feeling portions of the blackened skin stretch on her back; she wanted to scream, these blotches of death would soon eclipse her. She could barely think, but one thought trumped all, she had to get these twins out of here, what's done is, done, they had to leave, they had to get out of here somehow.

"Izzy?"

"Isabella, can you walk?"

She felt like she could barely crawl, much less walk or even run. She would only be a hindrance to the twins' escape now, and she also knew that no matter what she said, what she could even bring herself to threaten them with, they would not leave her side. The lights flickered again, time was running out.

Only the most trusted associates knew this for its blasphemous ramifications (Isabella couldn't help but smirk at herself), but the heart of this world powered the Institute! And for the power to be failing…There was only one way for power to have been disrupted to the Institute, what they had done to make sure that the power could never, ever be cut…The heart of the world itself would have to be held in a sustained cardiac arrest.

A slight tremor shook the building, igniting a sinking feeling to bubble in Isabella's gut.

If this condition isn't reversed, then the world itself would die, and there was no escaping that unless in some sort of star craft, gummi ship as some would call them…Her mind bumped over the stationed Keyblade Master in their midst, one worthy of the Sovereign Royalty's respect, Isabella snickered again, oh he would surely be tested tonight, if not already.

A stronger tremor shook the building.

"Come on children, come on," it was all talk from Isabella, the twins moved her more than her legs' sad excuse for walking.

_What had such power to hold the heart of a world in its hand? _Of course she really knew in being the researcher she was, but she couldn't fathom as to why they would descend upon this world, upon this Institute, why such things would even bother with this sneeze of an atom.

Isabella flashed back to the red and blue eyes of the beasts_, _and a late chill sparked through her for having such guts for berating those things like she did. She knew that stained glass window well which showed the pillars of existence, Yahena, the Chrost-Weik, and the Lifestream, decorated and beautiful to catch every breath that owed its own existence to the story it displayed. Opposite one another in the middle were the great beasts of white coating and blue eyes, and black coating and red eyes. They both had one arm extended out in front of them, interlocking a single paw as if to force one another back single handedly, mirroring one another's pose perfectly except for what differed in their anatomy. Their pose inadvertently formed the shape of a heart with the curve of their necks and noses meeting. They were the Gates, those that protected the pillars; they that were sown into the fabric of existence.

"Isabella, don't cry…"

"We will all get out of here mom!"

The Gates' divine involvement, it would explain the extraordinary Singe* of the eyes of the Gatekeepers and the power outage, _but why do this?_ This hiccup in information led Isabella to piece together something very unpleasant and chilling, _what of that Sovereign scientist that was here earlier?_ Who tried to take Avera's Pulse*? _Did he know this was going to happen?_ Was this an attack on the Institute itself? _One that even the Gates thought they should bless?_ Why? _Why?_

They were walking right next to her. These children…what had she created that pillars of existence, Gods for lack of a better term, would descend upon this single world, this single Institute…? No, she knew exactly what she had created, what this Institute was, and how it had escalated to the point of poking in the territory of manipulating Astral Law, and what others would do to get their hands on these boys…Thank goodness they could finally protect themselves, if such an idea had been hatched earlier, they would have been spirited away to god knows where, and brainwashed, or killed, or who knows what else a sick hand would have tried.

Surely there was some kind of raid that also happened when they were inside the Nursery; a building just doesn't empty itself. Well, in a way, this one could, but still, there's a bigger design at work here.

A subtle breaking sound caught all of their attention, a little crack was traveling up the hallway towards them from behind.

"Mom, mom, come on get up!"

"Isabella get up!"

The cracking sound was getting deeper, resonating ever louder as it got closer to them, "Avera, Annelle, listen to me, do you remember the glitch that I've told you about? About Monty?"

"Yes"–

Then the hallway lights suddenly burst back into life, and the crack was halted in place, the deep crumbling sound silenced with the sound of air being let out of some unseen fissure.

"The power came back!" Annelle chirped, but Isabella was much more cautious. She was up against the Gates after all, and understanding their full intentions, much less power, was like trying to catch light in the palm of your hand; impossible.

"The glitch Isabella! Come on, stand up, we'll walk you to it! I think–"

"Walk me to the Sentiment Closet first, I need to get a weapon." Several in fact.

"Mommy, we're the weapons!"

"_Do as I tell you!"_

And so they hobbled, Isabella more or less pulling the boys past the pace that they wanted to set for her, "Isabella," Avera whimpered, "I'm sorry we can't learn Cure* magic–"

"That's not your fault sweety, it's mine, there, just a couple more doors down, past the elevator"–

_Ding_, the elevator's entry light burned green–Isabella grabbed both boys by the scruff of their shirts on the back of their necks and threw them with unremarkable strength into the nearest room–she giving them both a glare to stay the hell down, and stay the hell quiet.

The doors opened revealing a gruff looking man with slicked back blonde hair, oiled aerial clothing, and holding a long, spear-like weapon. Upon immediately seeing Isabella's burnt and blackened body, he raced over to her side, "M'am, take my hand, I'll help get you out of this hell hole, oh my god, your legs"–

"What have you seen?"

"What have I seen? Hell! And by the looks of it, so have you, lady please let me help you, are you the only one left down here?"

"Who have you seen left in the building?"

"Bits an' pieces, these monsters, demons–_ghosts?_ I don't know, that Master Allister tore into the brutes_, practically suicide_, but there were too many, he couldn't keep 'em all from slithering through the place, they had this, swirling, moving flesh, _uagh,"_ the man crinkled his nose in genuine disgust remembering the sight of them.

"_Untouchables,"_ Isabella breathed– _*For being the rarest Emotionless, they're sure showing their numbers tonight*–_

"M'am, please come with me now, Allister has got everything stable up top, I can speak and run at the same time"–

"Well I can't," Isabella spat as the man moved to pick her up–

"Then let me carry you!"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"

"_ANNELLE!"_

The man looked back in time to see a black electrical bolt suspended in mid air just behind his neck–

"_Holy sh_–what are you, _kids?"_

The bolt dispersed; Annelle had fully blown his cover with Avera peeking around the corner. Isabella ripped herself out of the man's grasp and grabbed both boys by their arms, "Take them with you, here"–

The man sputtered in surprise in suddenly finding himself juggling twins, one looking at him in frightened curiosity, the other seemingly wanting to bite his face off, his spear falling out of his grasp and onto the floor with an awkward _clink, clink, clang_.

"What, what do I do"–

Isabella finally made it to the Sentiment Closet, stumbling inside and onto the ground, her legs reminding her she was on borrowed time.

The man stumbled into the closet behind her, struggling to hold the twins, _"Lady"–_

"_Isabella"–_

"_Mom"–_

Rather than screaming at them all, she used her riled up fury to power herself back up, using the shelves as a make-do crutch, pushing past elaborate containers of all shapes, glints and colors, until she found a little black box with a single tiny white jewel on upon it. She snatched it up, and smashed it to the ground, not minding the little bites of broken glass as she plucked from the debris two glinting small chains with emblems of unknown origins, both looking like crowns with three spikes. She stumbled over to the man holding her precious charges and handed each boy a chain, "No matter what happens," she said in as dead a serious tone she could muster, "You do not lose these things."

"Y-you boys listen to your mother now," the man chimed in, only to be met with another of Isabella's mind piercing glares.

"I'm not their mother, I'm their manipulator, at best."

"_What does that mean?"_ the man sputtered.

"Um, Izzy, th-they're dissolving away…"

The keychains crumpled out of the boy's hands like sand. Isabella face palmed, _*Of f*ing course.*_ "Where do you live?" she asked the man.

"I live in town, in the city, we all saw this place go up in this, weird smoke and then fiery light, and then the monsters came"–

"There is no one left alive in this building? No monsters?"

"From what I've seen just you, and these boys, lady now I think these boys can walk, I can carry you" –

And the last of Isabella's strength left her, she collapsing on top of the man who dropped the boys in time to catch her.

"_Isabella!"_

"_Mom!"_

"I got her, I got her now, you two kids just follow me on out of here, you, blackie head"–

"My name is Annelle"–

"Anne, could you pick up my spear for me? Ah," he situated Isabella a little better, "Alright let's get the hell out of here!"

Both boys acknowledged the man; Annelle growling a bit in picking up his spear-like weapon.

"This way, the elevator hopefully should still work."

"What's your name mister?" asked Avera.

"My name is Cid Highwind, pleasure, go on now, inside," and the double doors closed behind them.

"Get off on the second floor," came Isabella's weak voice, "Monty says he had to, change the exit."

"Whatever you say, wait, second floor?"

"Second floor…you'll see. Monty owes me a favor."

"Monty? Uh, lady"–

"Momma's worked in this building for a long, long time," said Annelle, "She knows it inside and out, and what it's fully capable of."

"Monty is what she named the building," said Avera, "Isabella has told us that the building is alive because we're alive, and the world is alive, and she can talk to it, and it can do her favors."

A stupefied visage slapped itself on Cid's face, "Oooookay, well, uh, well," but before he could even begin to wrap his head around what Avera had said, the elevator door opened, revealing another desolate hallway.

"Which way m'am?" but Isabella had fallen out of consciousness, "Crap, you boys wouldn't happen to know where she meant us to go would you? Err, where Monty wanted us to go?"

"You can't hear him?" asked Avera.

"Unfortunately I'm not fluent in buildings-speak kid," and Cid started to move on his own, the twins following quickly in his steps.

_Ding._

The light of another elevator at the end of a crossing hallway lit up grabbing all of their attention, Annelle became on the ready to attack, but the doors didn't open.

"Monty says this way!" piped Avera.

"Wait kid! _ACK–"_ the twins more or less pulled Cid along with their tiny hands as he struggled to keep balance with Isabella. A phone rang in a room down another crossing hallway adjacent to the lit elevators, this hallway having windows–

"This way! This way!"

Isabella regained consciousness from Cid's rapid and rough movements, her head nonchalantly glancing at the windows they were passing, her eyes making contact with faint grizzly growling teeth–

"GET DOWN!"

No sooner than she said that, the windows were spotted with bullets, the twins were small enough to run underneath the fire, but they still hit the ground with Cid, he trying to cover them all from the raining glass shards.

"_WHAT THE HELL?"_ the bullet spray stopped, _"Is this a rescue or an assassination?"_

"Both," Isabella coughed, a trickle of blood running down her mouth.

"Oh no, _no"–_

"Mom, _MOM"–_

Isabella had been hit in the back, her left lung was ruptured; she was down to minuets.

_Ding._

Another pair of elevator doors lit up at the end of the windowed hallway. Oddly placed, they look like they had just been stuck there by accident. The doors opened, and then a second pair opened on the opposing end, showing freedom beyond the wind swept treetops into the cover of night, closer tree branches looking like outstretched arms waiting to catch them.

Cid gawked at the building anomaly, _"What the…?"_

"Go, go," Isabella choked, "Avera, Annelle, _go_–"

"Mommy come on," Avera cried, _"Move, please–"_

"_We're not leaving you!"_ Annelle screamed, his piercing cries unable to penetrate the deathly cloak that was wrapping itself around Isabella.

Cid suddenly heard heavy footsteps making their way towards them, and he wasn't about to find out what they were hauling ass for! The elevator doors flexed, and a little voice entered the back of his mind, _*HURRY!*_

Cid grabbed the boys and they grabbed Isabella, the added weight slowing them down past the point of escape, and it broke Cid's heart in knowing what he'd have to do to get these children free, but Isabella with already a shattered heart and body spared him. She took the hands of the boys in her own, their little hands grasping hers back responsively like so many times when they walked about like a mother walking her children. She kissed their grasp of one another, of the boys whom she had watched over since the time they were born, yes, born she thought, and then she let go.

"_MOOOOM!"_

Free of the added weight, Cid bolted with the children, putting a little too much force in the charge forward that caused Cid to bend forward too far and stumble into the elevator, *Wow this is a small elevator–OHSHI*– and they all fell out of the building!

Seconds away from the ground, and what Cid thought would be some broken bones from the angle he fell, he was then aptly jerked up by the back of his shirt (almost choked) with the sound of giant wings descending upon him, his fall softened with an almighty "OOF" as he rolled on the ground and into a tree trunk. He scrambled to get back up, banged up, cut, and bruised, looking up at the elevator doors that led to freedom closing, molding back into the side of the building itself, "Woah!" he stumbled to the side as a powerful gust of wind caught him by surprise, he hearing the screaming and crying of the twins being carried away on the gale, _"Avera! Annelle!"_

But his cries were quickly drowned out by the sound of a great collapse rising from the ground up. Cid felt flecks of rocky debris flick onto his face and couldn't believe what was happening now, _the Institute was collapsing! All of it!_

The windows popped, the columns snapped, the dying moan of tons of metal and concrete crushing in upon itself shook the ground–Cid ran from the destruction, _"Avera! Annelle!"_ Where had they gone? _No, did something take them away?_

As quickly as the building began to crumble, it ended just as fast with an almighty tremor that split the ground just under Cid's scramble, causing him to stumble into another tree. He looked back, and took in the sight of the Institute completely leveled.

"Damn…" He knew people had to be trapped inside considering the rush of footsteps before their escape, but he couldn't help but feel that the building, Monty was it? Used its body to bury whatever was after them…Come to think of it when he entered the building to help, he got to the bottom level with so much ease…

"Avera! Annelle!"

"_CID!_ Cid are you alright?" a dark red haired lion/canine-like beast with a thin brown mane extending partially down his back, and tattoos on his right legs, landed by Cid's side in a great leapt, "How did you get out? I heard you went to the bottom level!"

"Red, I, uh, aw hell _it's just one big hole of shit!"_ Cid hissed slamming his fist against a tree.

"You're alright then are you?" the beast asked.

"I'm just a perfect peach," Cid spat, "Look listen, we've got to find these two kids, they're twins, one with black hair, and one with blue-blonde hair."

"_Children?"_

"Yes, twins, hey where's Allister? His kid better not be a damn orphan now"–

"HOO!"

Cid and Red looked up, and a white horned owl with eyes black as ebony glared back down, "HOO! HOO! HOO!" The owl took off, the force of its flight knocking a wisp of some kind of fabric from the branches to flutter lightly in the air to finally land within Cid's grasp. He instantly recognized the white silk as part of what the twins wore.

"_Damnit_…_Hey_ _Avera! Annelle!"_

The horned owl flew up high into the night, over the rubble of the Wayward Lights Institute, and into the creases of darkness in-between the speckled starlight. The last bits of its shadow flying over Isabella's body which had not a pebble of rubble upon her.

Her eyes were barely creased open, eyes that could see and not see. A patch of black had spread up to her face, a fleeting thought crossed her mind, what would she die from first? The gunshot or the Distortion…?

There wasn't much Monty was able to do until the very end after feeling his body being subdued by the world, who in turn was bending to the intrusions of the Gates. Even when it felt it could act, it was already too late. Monty crumbled as an act of revenge against them, the building feeling the satisfaction of crushing them under his strong slabs of concrete and metal, turning the protection that was built into the building into a blade to give a single stab back against they who had defiled it, defiled her, and all the while amongst the calamity, not a single pebble of debris hit Isabella. Monty had collapsed perfectly around her, opening up the night sky upon her still lifeless face.

"Hey! Over here, I see someone!"

Isabella's throat could barely flex, "Monty…thanks…at least my brother has something to bury now…." The words were more mouthed than spoken, the scientist's vision was blurred with white dots shimmering and fading over the cascading night; she was in no pain, she was only very, very tired…"How weak of me…all I want to do now is hold them…." And the ticking of her heart stopped.

_What did we remember?_

"Sora? What's wrong? You're…"

"Ah, that's weird…It feels like, something is squeezing me inside."

"Somebody up there must be sad."

"Up where?"

.

"_Oh man, she's in terrible shape, come on, be careful with her legs!"_

"_It's a miracle she wasn't crushed!"_

_.  
><em>

"They say every world is connected by one great big sky. So, maybe there's somebody up there in all those worlds who's really hurting, and they're waiting for you to help them."

.

"_She bleeding out her back too? Oh man"-_

"_Get an ambulance here NOW!"_

_.  
><em>

"Well gee, do you think there's something I could do?"

_Yes, but not tonight, not for this._

"_Move, move, out of my way–MOVE! Isabella? ISABELLA!"_

_.  
><em>

"Hmm…Maybe they just need you to open your heart and listen."

"I don't know Riku, you say some weird stuff sometimes, but I'll try it!"

.

"_Isabella? Izzy, oh no, no no no nonono"–_

_.  
><em>

"Hey, can you hear me?"

.

"_Can you hear me….? Izzy, can you hear me….? Wake up….Please, please wake up…." _

***…..***

_**What a small world.**_

_**YeS, But pArT oF oNe THat'S MuCh biGgER.**_

END CHAP

You likey? Feed the plot bunnies and review please! =^.^= Updating this baby will be monthly at best, I haz life, and it loves to beat me with monkey wrenches ^^;

**Next chapter:** Time has not been kind outside of the Disney Borders, though it hasn't really been a picnic within the Disney Constellation itself! When a visitor from beyond arrives at Disney Castle bearing the eyes of a Constellation long forgotten as a friend, she brings more then a reminder of the true diversity of the stars.

Till next time, peace and coconuts! :D


	2. InBetween the Stars

AN: WOOT~! First Anime introduced up in this chappie~! If you don't know who it is by the characters given, it's title will be listed at the end of the chappie :3 Although really chapter two was just so darn long, it got split into two parts, so chapter 3 will be up tomorrow, I'm sleepy. ENJOY~!

.

"Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-

Success in Curcuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind-

_-Emily Dickinson _

**.**

Dark are the windows of this castle, heavy it is with dust and ashes. Gone are the horizons it once looked over. The brick walls hold themselves up with weight alone, the arches eyeing the ground below.

The halls are wide and empty, like the throat of someone who has given their final scream, and died with mouth all agape.

The vast ballroom stands like the rot of a cavity after a predator has had its fill. Everything in the courtyard is ash at the gasp of the wind.

There, at the end of a hallway that once overlooked a beautiful ocean, now a sea of darkness, stands a clock upon the wall, with craft so fine of glass that a single strand of dust could fill the eyes of the many children that surround it's face, looking and pointing at the still hands.

A shadow of a presence passes over the clock, and the second hand moves but once.

~.*.*.~

_When I woke up, I was hovering underneath the waves looking up to the sparkling surface._

_The water was very loud around me, a pressure was growing in my chest, but I wasn't afraid, because our hands were clasped together._

_Yes, we won't be conquered with our hands clasped together, a gate no one can pass._

"(*Sigh*)~"

Waves rose and fell along a shoreline where few have treaded. A young man clothed in a silk black hooded robe stepped up to the water's edge. His bright blue-green-yellow hazel eyes peeked beyond his light yellow wavy bangs to the sea nearly hidden by night, and rock formations that looked to be black crystallizations of creeping and leering shadows.

"Crud, the gate really did close, and he really did leave, (*sigh*)." The young man looked to the darkness of night touching the darkness of the ocean. "Hm, so that's it…." His eyes then drifted to the waves reaching up to touch his dark pointed shoes upon the sand, and then to the damp paper in his pocket that looked to have been ripped out of a fairly elegant book. Whelp, now was as good as time as any to get acquainted with the contents. He plucked it from his hip hugging pocket and it ripped right in half, the weakened wet pieces drooping in his hands, "Pffffffff"–he started with the top half,

"'The heart of every Constellation was created after the refurbishing from,' blah, blah, blah, 'Heartless, a kind of Emotionless', yada, yada, yada…. 'everything has a heart, worlds, people, even those who seemed to have crawled out under a rock,' that's a pleasant description, ta ta ta, 'of everything, we are all intertwined in the great labyrinth of existence'; phooey, he certainly has a way with subtly." The young man snorted, perhaps he would acquire something that wasn't a polite "remember your place you little shit" on the second half of the page, or at least something he didn't already know.

"'Tu tu tu tu, to enter the labyrinth, you must pass through the Gates, but even then you will only be able to see a single side of the whole.' Yup, 'if you can stand to lose half of yourself, then the Gates will grant you passage, however to enter the Gates,'" and the page ended…. "Oh," he saw a thin slice of horizontal light on the horizon slice through the paper, the line getting ever brighter. "Hm," he smiled, "Of course _you_ would come back for me wouldn't you?"

All that was once draped in eternal night gave way to a glistening dawn, it rays reaching the shoreline swiftly, brushing the darkness away as one would wipe thick bangs from someone's face. The warm touch pulled the cold shadows long and thick and unwilling, the young man's shadow hissing as it stretched–

"You would disrupt this world for the sake of me?"

_Shiin~_ Two warped keyblades appeared, one of wind, one of water, one in the grip of each hand,

"Go-men-a-si~"

A glint in the light of the dawn revealed what his shadow did not, the hint of translucent feathers stretching from his shoulder blades–he gripped both keyblades together over his head forming a single great blade of light pointing to the ground–"But even _you_ should remember your place"–he stabbed the light into the ground and the colors of the dark world introverted, the boundaries of shades of black and white vibrating–igniting a furiously gleaming light–

.

POUT! King Mickey jumped up in his seat, lucky that none of the shards of glass from his lamp had struck him, but that couldn't be said for the books on his desk. The grand door to his Study opened and Queen Minnie entered.

"Oh Mickey! Are you all right? I heard you cry out!"

"Aha, I'm fine Mini, the bulb just blew out and startled me; I knew I should have changed it."

A sharp crack of thunder made the king jump yet again; the windows above were getting drenched! "It's raining out? How long have I been asleep?"

"I have no idea, you said you had something greatly important to look up so I didn't want to bother you, but it sure would be nice if you could spare a bit of time in-between your research and protecting the worlds with your queen~"

Mickey blushed, "Aw shucks Mini, give me about 10 more minuets, no five, and we'll have lunch together."

"It's dinner time."

BAMPH–the doors to Mickey's study burst wide open missing Queen Mini's back by inches, "EEP!"–Chip and Dale came flying through like little torpedoes, crashing on King Mickey's desk causing his papers to scatter about–

"_Your majesty, contact has been made from beyond our borders!"_

"Contact, from–_from who?"_

"It's from our Sister Constellation! But it's not the Royal family_, it's_ _the Stewards!"_

Minnie raised an elegant hand to her chin, "Stewards, now don't they watch over the throne when, (*Gasp*)–_the Stewards?"_

"Did the Stewards say where the Royal family had gone?" asked Mickey.

"How about you have your subjects introduce me instead?" came a level female voice that was almost monotone in sound.

All attention focused on the entrance to the study as the doors closed behind a tall young lady that looked so against the grain amongst the native Royalty, she looked like she had been crudely cut and pasted where she stood from some alien publication. Or at least the latest issue of "The Darkness inside and You."

_THAT was a Steward?_

She was dressed in darkness sheik from head to toe: she wore a black tattered knee-length skirt and a tight sleeveless cut shirt that was covered by a thin silk sweater with dark rose patterns that showed her pale arms underneath. The tight sleeveless cut shirt that she wore under her thin rose pattern sweater was colored in horizontal reverberating stripes of green and purple, as were her stockings that ended in black pointed tall boots. Half of her wild black hair was tied up in a ponytail with a purple stream leaving the other half to portrait her face. Her lips were colored black (surprise), her face was nearly a pasty white, and her eyes were a most penetrating yellow. Her posture was tight and solid with her hands clasped firmly in front of her, and her legs looking almost melded together, making Minnie's stance seem far more relaxed in her own regal posture.

If her dress wasn't a dead giveaway that she was from "somewhere else" (Mickey thought she could fit right in at Halloween Town) her eyes certainly were. They were captivated by her glance that was breaking through the barrier of her attire like a fire in a dark room. Never before had any of them seen such beautiful, burning, shinning eyes as hers, and their foreign design. Though her eyes were somewhat narrowed in a bored tone, her eyelashes were thin, cut, and out-reaching, only adding to their mystic style.

Only _that_ Constellation was known for such eyes, but then why…?

Blind to the gawking faces before her, the Stewards was not, "You think odd of my attire?"

"Oh!" Mickey blushed, "I'm sorry."

"It is alright your majesty, I excuse you this time. Understand as Stewards we take a guise of the indigenous of the Constellation we sit for, but by sitting in for the Sovereigns who rule over all Kingdoms, our guises were chosen at random; I was no different. And considering the diversity within the Constellation themselves"–but by then the Disney Royalty had unconsciously tuned her out, their thoughts honing in on the statement that the Stewards were sitting in for the Sovereigns, and not their Sister Royalty, and the implications of what that could mean flooded their minds in a second–

"OH! Introductions!" chirped Dale, "Your Majesties, entering is Nikkue of the North Tower, representing the Stewards of Throne currently seating for the Sovereigns!"

Queen Minnie flinched, and turned a begging, almost terrified look to her dear King Mickey.

"Ah yes, Royal greetings are another thing to get used to as well," said Nikkue steadily with a slight smirk that was quickly erased as it was drawn.

"Now just hold on a minute," started King Mickey, "You're not sitting in for our Sister Constellation, correct?"

Nikkue nodded.

"You're, _sitting in for the Sovereigns…?"_ Minnie finished

The King and Queen shared another glance and it finally _fully_ sank in with a great wave that smashed their chests flat–they were in audience with a Steward, someone from _beyond_ the Disney border, _another Constellation_–_SITTING IN FOR THE HIGHEST ROYALTY–_

"Please freeze that thought in your minds, I understand the gravity of me just being here, defying the sacred borders, but as your worlds have judged by now the borders serve little justice in the wake of an enemy that can walk through them, and we Stewards share that ideal."

The clue sent shivers down everyone's spines, _then_ _what kind of threat could cause–?_

"Please, allow me to explain why I am even in your presence at first to help you all gather your thoughts." Nikkue's tight posture somehow solidified even further as if she was turning into an announcement post, but she barely even opened her mouth before the study doors were flung open once again, this time hitting their target square in the back, breaking her posture out into flailing limbs spattering across the floor and then trampled upon by the king's hysterical captain and magician as they rushed up to his desk scattering even more papers about–

"_Your majesty!–" _

"_Is it true? There has been contact from beyond our borders?"_

"DONALD! GOOFY!" King Mickey screamed trying to push them aside, but the damage was done (Chip and Dale's incomprehensible berating at the captain and magician was not making things any clearer to boot), not to mention no one even took notice that Goofy was soaking wet, making the floor a hazard itself–the captain of the guard gasped in spotting the gothic splotch on the floor, "Heartless!"–he and Donald prepared to attack, misinterpreting the action of their king for a protective move_–*slip*_ and King and magician were suddenly flattened under the captain.

Nikkue turned a thunderous death glance toward the pile as she picked herself up, Queen Minnie freezing in her tracks from offering help at Nikkue's threatening posture from every foot she gained off the ground, "I, AM, NOT–AN EMOTIONLESS!" the Steward roared upon standing to her full height, her voice leaving a reverberating sheen on the glass above. She thrust out the length of her arm and an orb of light left the palm of her hand, shaping itself into an elegant twilight spear which she pointed directly at the pile scrambling to get up from the slippery floor–

"_Your Stewardess they meant no harm!"_ Queen Minnie begged nearly dropping to her knees, King Mickey finally shot up and quickly put himself between the enraged Steward and his court–

"STEWARD!" gasped Goofy and Donald together_–*slip.*_

"They meant no disrespect!" said King Mickey, "Please share the understanding you had with us with them!"

"_Understand this,"_ the Steward spat whilst ever so slightly retreating her spear from then pointing at the King's chest, "If you and your court are to come in contact with other Royalty, there will be split second consequences for any misinterpretation spilled. I highly, HIGHLY, suggest that you dig up your Astral knowledge and prepare yourselves for the scrutiny of your peers!"

"Come in contact with other Royalty? Are–_are you calling a council of Royals?"_ Mickey thought for something so monumental he'd have a harder time wrapping his head around it, but the idea sent a great wave of excitement and hope through his heart.

Nikkue retracted her spear with a twirl of her wrist, landing the object neatly at her side, _"We_ are," she said tightly as if her lips were suddenly magnetic, "It is for that reason that I am here to request an audience with all of you, regrettably, at a Conference of Royals to take action against the Evil Beyonds."

Goofy slipped a surprised step back, _"Evil" –_

"_Beyonds?"_ Donald finished.

And just like that Mickey's excitement for the council was doubled back to why such a thing could even be called in the first place. His brain dug deep for information that for his entire life, and the life before, was only the stuff off his Master's teachings and dusty old books that served as great paperweights. For the words of those books to have ground now, it was all still under a veil of surrealism.

Nikkue gave a sharp nod at the spilt remark from Donald and Goofy, and then a slight collapsing sigh, "Such an event as this has not happened since the World was separated. This council must not fail. As impossible a task it seems, we must re-align the links that have been severed for the very purpose of protection we are now trying to full-fill." Nikkue's gaze was then snagged upon Queen Minnie raising a shaking hand to which she acknowledged with a nod.

Queen Minnie swallowed, so very afraid of what kind of answer she would receive, and yet one that was already answered with the Steward's presence–"Wh-where are the Sovereigns? Where are our Sister Roy–"

"All dead," said the Steward simply, "All murdered by the Evil Beyonds. It seems not a drop of either bloodline remains, though there are rumors that a Sovereign may still exist somewhere, we have no confirmations on it."

Minnie had to hang onto the bookcase for support–

"What about the Constellation's Keyblade Weilders?," Goofy swallowed, "Why, didn't they–"

"Well perhaps because they are dead as well," said Nikkue, "And what was left of the Sovereign's Masters had abandoned them, a long time ago."

Everyone aside from the Steward was reeling.

"All, _all gone?"_

"Abandoned them? How, _how could they?"_

Nikkue merely shrugged, "It's a real shame," she went on, grasping her twilight spear with both hands, "But it's not without its own poetic irony in a sense. So many Royalty begged for the help of the Sovereigns as their Wielders were slain left and right, but that help came in the form of the greater good. The Sovereigns destroyed the Constellations' heart in an attempt to wipe out the threat that plagued it, like burning someone with a disease in the hopes of killing the virus that was killing them, but of course killing the person in the process as well."

"_That's horrible!"_ Minnie shrieked.

Nikkue continued, "But this 'virus' they were seeking to destroy, they came to learn was too far rooted into the D.N.A. of the stars."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying what was being awakened and causing a riot in the Constellations was there long before the Sovereigns ever came into existence, long before us all, the Evil Beyonds… So what were they to do to protect us? What was left from becoming a loft of oblivion? Long story short, they were driven mad at the conclusions they sought, and when this 'virus' had reached them, they ended up as merely another burned victim."

A sniffle came from Queen Minnie, her hands covering her face.

"My peers and I were forced to step down from looking over your Sister Constellation to accept the task of the Sovereigns six years ago after years and years of searching for an heir proved fruitless."

"_Six years ago…?"_ breathed Donald, suddenly all they went through in the last two seemed rather compressed!

"This is now the precipice we stand upon, we are finally able to come into contact with you according to the Laws." Nikkue let her angry gaze flow downward with a deep exhale, "The silence between the Royals is as deep as the darkness that divides the stars, but if we are to survive we must come together," she continued with a slight glaze inward, "I wonder if the Laws finally showed mercy in letting us contact your Constellation on such," the Steward couldn't help but chuckle, "fickle grounds of your kingdom being named on the Evil Beyonds' awakening list."

"Wait, _WHAT?"_

"At least you have a heads up for when the virus awakens within your home, and such luck your Constellation is still intact. You have six hours to prepare your court for the council, I will then return to your castle to gather you," Nikkue turned to leave, "No longer will we have this silence," however she raised her hand to stop the incoming outburst from the Royals and courts, "As a Constellation named on the Evil Beyonds' list, we Stewards have taken great measures in protecting your kingdom from any outside interference, the inside as I'm sure you know was and is left to your own devices and choices, as Law demands."

Just then Pluto entered the study gently pushing the doors away to allow just enough space for him to enter (the dog about as soaked as Goofy was even after a good shake), there was something limp, pale, and wet in his mouth.

Nikkue snorted, "I hope your dog is trained in picking up papers to help you clean up your study, it certainly has more dexterity than half of your court," and she left with a sharp stab of her spear upon the ground that released a twirling sliver of light which encompassed her and spirited her away.

"Oh King Mickey, we're so sorry," said Goofy as he and Donald bent in absolute shame.

"Aw, don't worry about it fellas," replied the king, as there were much, MUCH bigger things to worry about now…

"Well if you ask me," came Daisy's voice upon her entering the room, "She was standing too close to the doors anyway."

"Daisy!" blurted Donald, "We're you back there this whole time?"

"I was back here hoping I could have a little one on one time with that temper boar when she left, but alas, there are certainly much more important things going on here then teaching that strumpet a lesson."

"Goofy, uh, I must inquire," said Minnie finding some footing that wasn't on soaked floor, as well for her mind, "But why are you all wet? And Pluto too!"

"You weren't out in this storm were you?" asked Daisy.

"Oh yeah! We sure were!" piped Goofy, twirling about to Mickey and giving everything in within radius a sprits of water upon it, "Donald, Pluto, and I were trying to catch this magicked letter that was just floating out about in the storm, er, not that it's important anymore…"

Pluto nudged King Mickey's hand to take the dripping letter, but before the King even had a chance to glance at the elegant writing and framing upon what looked to be a torn page, or at least half of one out of a book, the paper melted into a puddled mess.

"Well that's that," said the King, and Pluto gave a small whine, "I think we need to take a quick trip over to Master Yen Sid's tower."

"Want us to check out the Cornerstone of Light?" asked Chip. "You know, double, triple check?"

As to what that would accomplish, King Mickey could only guess on their frazzled and thoroughly beaten nerves, "Of course," he replied, "Then we'll go see Master Yen Sid."

"Your majesty! Your majesty!"

Oh boy, Mickey wasn't sure of how much more he could handle, but when he processed that voice as Jiminy Cricket's and saw the little scribe enter the study, a thought crossed his mind that he was going to need a chair.

Jiminy almost slipped to his knees to a halt upon the slick floor in front of everyone's drooping, and some dripping, forms, "Oh, oh my, have I missed something important?"

"Understatement of the century," sighed Daisy.

~*.*~

Underneath the temperate light of day, the landscape of Tokieo Town stands with change. From afar, the city has grown at least three times its size from a decade ago, and taller. The hill that separated the Wayward Lights Institute has traded in its blades of grass and trees to become assimilated with the Town, and where the ruins of the Institute once stood, now stands another Tower simply named "Spot Tower."

It's design isn't as elegant as Tokieo Tower, Spot Tower shoots straight up out of the ground like a spear with its top a flamboyant design resembling an exploding star; some of the young in the town thought the tower to be a giant wand, whereas really it's design is supposed to help the Tower act as an antenna for this world.

As for Tokieo Tower, it has been through somewhat of a remodeling fiasco after having been torn down by various Emotionless rampaging through the city over the years, "Honestly!" one of the town defenders would shout out, "WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE?"

"I think that's why they're attacking the Tower, Edward."

"UGTH!"

The Tower retains its elegant upside down "v" shape, but it is vastly reinforced in strength with architecture work perfected by the world's technological advances along with a glass shell that rivals the world's mortal barrier. Entrance into the tower's lower floors is allowed by all residents, but the 30th floor and up is restricted to the public, unlike Spot Tower where only employees of the building are permitted to enter at all.

Of these employees that are granted this exclusive access to Spot Tower are two girls within the 68th floor. The one with the nametag Yuko (Yasako) Okonogi has short faded auburn hair, but deeper auburn eyes upon a face a little tinted with focus and gloom. She wears a tan coded school girl's uniform, tan high tight fitting boots, and also glasses with big round thin spectacles. Her attention was fixated on a screen whose buttons she commanded could only be seen through the power of the glasses she wore.

The other girl didn't look nearly as uptight. She wore a light smirk on her face as her brown eyes gleefully sifted through the information on the screen before her. Her brown hair was longer in reaching just past her shoulder blades, she wore a white t-shirt with a light teal trimming design on the top and a light blue-gray miniskirt. The glasses she wore resembled the bare shape of safety goggles, but were only as thick as a cut of glass and completely transparent; her nametag read Fumie Hashimoto.

Without breaking eye contact with her screen, Yasako drew a circle in thin air, and a chain of electrical command windows manifested out of thin air, all about as thick as a sliver of a computer screen. Her hand reached over them all in a windmill action canceling out whatever action they were trying to achieve, and in another shoving motion, all the windows were dismissed. Fumie flicked open a cover that seemed cut straight out of thin air, dialed a few numbers, and then closed it right back up.

A conversation started up between them, their voices sealed inside the building from a spectator outside.

_A camera with a blue lens zooms in on them, enhancing its special microphone to pick up their words and only their words._

Yasako sighed, "You know, sometimes I forget with just how much power we are entrusted with, because of these glasses…"

"That's not to say there aren't other worlds out there with technology as advanced as what was on ours," Fumie responded, "I've heard stories that there are some worlds that have real live mechs, not the toys we had, and, people with cyber-brains! Their _head_ is an actual computer! And some are completely cyborgs! I mean really, having Astral Powers isn't even that much of an upgrade for guys like that!"

"I don't know, you never really know how you're going to be translated when you step off of your world, I mean take us for example…Because of our glasses, we can bend cyberspace into actual reality–"

"Of course! We are witches of cyber space~!" Fumie crossed her arms like an "X" before her and tossed her head back, "BWAHAHAHAHA~! Eh, but, still, I'd really like to see those mechs and cyborg people, wouldn't you?"

"I-I- guess…still, if the Vertices have interfered this much with the worlds already, then why not just take the technology they need? Are our glasses really that powerful a tool compared with, what else could be out there…? I mean, the cyber world in conjunction with our real world was just daily life for us. There were times I admit that I forgot they were even separate…"

Fumie looked at Yasako with a hard glance, "It's not all the Vertices, it's just _that_ one…Besides, don't you think he's already done so? We are able to run commands through this tower as if it were alive, we can see things that are generally invisible to anyone other than Seraphs, we are able to detect threats of the Emotionless to this world with the mere fabric of an internet connection _running through this worlds heart_, don't you think that's some sort of a _miracle?"_

Yasako drooped.

"If we want to get back home," Fumie continued, "We have to play by that jerk's hand for now. The Stewards will set him in his place soon enough, and so will we."

"Mh, I await that day."

"Right now, we are the guardians of this world! Or at least the alarm system! The Coil Cyberinvestigation Agency will not falter to those monsters!"

"Now you're really starting to sound a lot like Daichi–"

"_No I do not!"_

Yasako giggled.

"Ah, a smile," said Fumie, "At least your spirits are back up. Mhp, it's time, we need to start prepping the gateway for the merges."

"But, wait we haven't had contact with the Royalty yet!"

"If Nikkue sets a time, Nikkue sets a time, she was supposed to send me the connection, but I guess that slipped out of her priorities. She's busy enough as it is."

"Well, mh, I guess, we don't really need to notify them that much, the hearts of the Constellations talk to each other on their own, we just have to pry open their borders a little bit since they're so rusty, right?"

"Yeah, something like that, even though it would have been nice to introduce ourselves, I mean, we would have been representing the entire Constellation!"

"Yeah, so maybe it was best that we didn't."

"Haha."

"Floor 8, reading verified, Disney Border identified, all systems in agreement upon target patch."

"Floor 14 bringing online power grid, suck away~!"

The top of Spot Tower began to glow with a surge of electricity like blossoms of light, rising up its metallic skeleton along the rails of its sides.

"Ehh…adjusting alignment, that's it Spot, good, check…"

"Big ass laser in check~"

Yasako swallowed with her hand on a digital key plugged into the circuit board, ready to turn it in time with the key Fumie finally manifested from cyberspace in its digital plug, "On th-three."

"Two!"

Yasako showed some grit_, "One"–_both girls turned the key and a brilliant thin beam of light shot from the top of Spot Tower with a deep resonating pulse, the stream of light bending like a bow and aiming for its intended target of the Disney Border–

"Knock, knock~!" piped Fumie, both girls watching the beam approach the invisible reflective wall with a gleaming glint, the contact sending an immediate white ripple of light over the vast surface– "Success~!"

Yasako gasped noticing the power reading of the border where the breach was initiated had dropped to absolute zero, _"What the–?"_ and now Fumie sported the same horrified look as where there was supposed to be a dim reflection of stars, a gaping solid black crack was created. _"Wha….ah….ah…."_

"A, A CRACK? Wha–_WHAT HAPPENED? The Borders were just to have been dimmed!"_

"It was on the correct setting! The Borders must have already been weakened!"

"_How did we not detect that?"_

"I don't know! ;O; Oh my goodness, oh my GOD–_do you have any idea what can get in there now?"_

The computer screen before both girls showed a giant emoticon of a sad face, the Tower's reaction.

"Wait, wait, the Stewards should already be on the way to repair it, they have the power of the Sovereigns, and your granny, they can detect these kinds of things in a heart beat! It'll be okay!"

"Still! The Constellation has to be stable if the merges are to work anyway! And if something sneaks in and blows that stability out the window, there go the merges, _and there goes our Constel…Con….Home–"_ *Kaplunk.*

"Okay, yeah, that's warranted for you to faint, great, you go on ahead and faint, I'm contacting the Stewards just to make sure they know that this screw up wasn't based on human error, oh, there's Nikkue contacting me now, so I'm just going to keep talking to myself and saying it's going to be okay–"

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO? NO REALLY–WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED? DO YOU SEE A BIG FUCKING CRACK? I SEE A BIG FUCKING CRACK WHERE A DIM BORDER SHOULD BE."

Fumie swallowed, shaking, "Th-The Borders were tampered with, we had the correct power level."

"YOU DIDN'T DETECT THE BORDER WAS WEAKENED?"

"No, the system ran through its checks, and read it as strong."

"FUCK."

"Yeah."

"DAMMIT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE A CONSTELLATION OFF THE GRID TO HELP THE DISNEY ONE OUT NOW."

"Can you stop screaming in caps please?"

"NO. THIS IS A BIG FUCKING PROBLEM THAT ISN'T EVEN REPRESENTED FULLY IN CAPS. TAKING A CONSTELLATION OFF THE GRID MEANS THAT CONSTELLATION IS ABOUT TO GET ROYALY FUCKED. ONE THAT REALLY NEEDS HELP TO STAY ALIVE, LIKE YOURS."

"Isn't there any other way?"

"NO. THERE IS NOT. WE HAVE TO LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE."

"So, who's going to get axed?"

"THAT IS THE DECISION OF THE STEWARDS. SHIT, WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST EUTHANIZE THE ENTIRE FUCKING CONSTELLATION."

"Don't say things like that! Geeze, I know this is a terrible problem, but as a Steward, aren't you supposed to be in better control of your emotions or something? Your heart has a clamp on it that like, only allows a certain amount of steam out, or something."

"THIS IS TRUE. WE ARE ONLY ALLOWED A CERTAIN EMOTION TO VENT, AND ONLY ONE. MINE IS ANGER."

"Go figure…Well, uh, you did tell the Disney Constellation about the merges right?"

"NO, THE THOUGHT SLIPPED MY MIND WHEN I SAW THE DEPTH OF THE COURT'S STUPIDITY."

"You're kidding."

"THAT CONSTELLATION NEEDS MORE HELP IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, AS DOES THIS ONE, AND THE SHIT ONLY PILES HIGHER WITH EACH GLANCE, CASE IN POINT THAT BIG FUCKING CRACK. THE COUNCIL OF ROYALS IS IN SIX HOURS, WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT RIGHT NOW. ROYALS ARE ALREADY ARRIVING."

"I'm guessing the council can't be delayed…?"

"IT'S BEEN DELAYED FOR TWO FUCKING YEARS. IT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED SIX YEARS AGO, BUT NO FOUR YEARS LATER FUCK-ALL STILL WASN'T MANEAGABLE, AND NOW TWO YEARS LATER INTO THE SHITSTORM–THIS GODDAMN COUNCIL HAS BEEN DELAYED LONG ENOUGH–AND NOW ANOTHER CONSTELLATION IS PROBABLY GOING TO DIE FOR IT. FUCK, FUCK, FUUUU–"

"What is the Steward of the Central Gate's input?"

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUU"–

"And the South Wing?"

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUU"–

"Well I already know yours, so let's not go down that road again. I'm re-routing power to assist in the repair Gridline as soon as you guys get a line open."

"THE LINE WILL BE OPEN IN AN HOUR. WE REACHED A DECISION."

"Damn that was fast."

"NO TIME FOR SECOND GUESSES. SERITOUGE WOULD BE SO PROUD, UGTH."

"Yeah, I bet sir jerk would."

"WE ARE SENDING REINFORCEMENTS TO HELP THEM. HOPEFULLY THEY WILL MAKE A SINGLE DAY WITHOUT OUR ASSISTANCE."

"We can only hope. I sure wish the Sovereign Masters would come back…"

"MANY DO. AT LEAST IT WAS A CONSTELLATION OF SEEMINGLY NO IMPORTANCE TO THE LADY OR THE RIDERS, THEY STOOD THE BEST CHANCE."

"I can tell how much that hurt for you to type."

"IT BURNS."

"I'm getting Tumble-Stop's assistance now, between Spot Tower, Tokieo Tower, and Lookout Tower, we'll have that Border repaired in no time."

"GOOD."

"Hey, just out of curiosity, how come the Disney Constellation can't assist in its own Border repair? Much less assisting their borders in the first place?"

"BECAUSE THEIR CONSTELLATION HAS BEEN ROYALLY SCREWED OVER BY A MAN NAMED XEHANORT FOR OVER A DECADE."

"What? Wait, so you're telling me they have been an open target this whole time? And, and if they, our merges…Us…"

"YES. THE ANGEL OF LUCK HAS SHAT ON YOU BOTH GRACEFULLY BEFORE WE WERE ABLE TO INTERVENE."

"That's one way of putting it…"

"THAT BORDER WAS A BLUFF, A GOOD BLUFF, BUT WHERE IS IT NOW? IT HAS A BIG FUCKING CRACK IN IT THAT'S WHAT."

"Okay, you're starting to not make a whole lot of sense now, and going in circles. We know what to do, and we'll be damned if it goes awry."

"SWEET STOCKING STARS IF ANYTHING ELSE HAPPENS"–

"IT WON'T. We know the Laws of Interference; it's our move, not theirs."

"DO YOU THINK THEY GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT? UGTH, WHATEVER, WE'RE DEPLOYING THE CARDIAL GUARD, ENDING TRANSMISSION."

"Later," Fumie took off her glasses, her hands were trembling terribly. How easily they forget they're still just children…A thought, a fluke of intuition really, told her to put her glasses on again and look to her left, she did, and saw just the hint of a camera flicker in a hiccup of code. She looked off to the side and took them off again casually as to not give alarm that she saw anything. _*Whose side are you on?*_ she thought.

Another incoming signal blipped in, the messenger stating it was a hidden voice line, but Fumie knew full well who it was as she connected to it, "Hey Granny."

"Nikkue gave you two a hard time didn't she?" the old voice cackled.

"Just me really, Yasako passed out when she jumped to conclusions, at least she passed out before the real extent of the damage came out."

Granny sighed, "My poor granddaughter, at least she was spared the verbal whip."

"And what a whip it was," puffed Fumie.

"Well, I just wanted to call and let you girls know to not worry about the border, I have equipped the Cardinal Guards with an accelerator, so the borders will begin to repair themselves through the hour-long wait."

"Yeah, but according to Nikkue that might not do too much."

"Well this is according to Granny, and it will work just fine."

Fumie smiled, "Thanks Granny, I'll be sure to pass the news onto Yasako when she wakes up."

"Thank-you Fumie. Take care now."

"You too."

~*.*~

A monitor displayed the deploy of the Castle's Gummi ship, headed in a bee-line course for the Mysterious Tower. It was quickly eclipsed by the work of the duo Chip and Dale, all the computer monitors before them now blazing through windows of defense mechanisms and measurers.

"I hope Yen Sid will be able to give them some good news about all this," said Dale, "We could sure use some."

"Exactly what kind of good news can he give them Dale?" said Chip, "This is as bad as it comes! If the Sovereigns couldn't find a solution to save everyone, what makes you think this council can?"

"I don't know, but there's got to be something! There's got to be a silver lining somewhere! They're not holding this council for nothing, not just to say let's just hold hands and hope it blows over, she made it seem like there are still some options open!"

"Well, there's always Sora and Riku, they haven't let us down yet! As bumpy as the roads they've been through, they've pulled through somehow!"

"Personally, I'm kinda scared for them," said Dale, "This threat is on a scale neither of them have faced before. I sure hope they can handle it."

"Me too, ah, _hey!_ I'm getting a strange message trying to bump its way in!"

"What?"

"Look! Look!" Chip hit the space bar and projected a mangled electronic sounding voice with its language being deciphered through a text screen below:

"/Six Vertices,

Three Pillars,

Like a triangle draw the heart,

Two Planes,

Three Sides,

Like a triangle draw the heart,

Light

Dark

In-between

Open the Gates, and like a triangle,

Make the heart connect the seams./"

"What in the cottinlilly does that mean?"

"I don't know, but it just keeps repeating that."

"Did you try to trace its source?"

"Yeah, but it seems to be coming from the castle, _from here!"_

"What? That's crazy!"

"I know!"

"/Stolen, stolen away./"

"It's changing!"

"/Stolen, all taken. Ingredients are needed, too many, and too few./"

"Ingredients for what?"

"Maybe it's hungry…? What is for dinner tonight anyway?"

"_Shhhhhh–!_

"/Stitch the parts together, make it whole. Stitch, and rip, and cut, and sow, and tear./"

"Seems rather the counterproductive type."

"_Will you shhhhhh!" _

"There are subtitles down there! Read!"

"/There is nothing you can do to stop it. Everything will be torn apart and then stitched back together as it should be./"

Dale took over the board and typed back, "What can't be stopped?"

"/Dying. Dying. Dying. Dying. Dying. Dying–/"

"Oh that's enough! Make it stop!"

"I'm trying! The connection is severed, but it's still getting through! It's as if it's in the computer itself!"

"_We've been hacked?" _

"/Dying. Dying. Dying. Dying. Dying. Dying–/"

"Will you shut up?"

"Turn the volume off!"

"But the subtitles are still getting through!"

"That's better than this noise!"

"Ah, much better…"

"Okay, I think we need to reboot the system, clean out whatever the heck that was!"

"Yeah, and we also need to rethink our security settings too, ugth, what more can go wrong? Was this hacker from inside or outside the borders?"

"Can't be outside, no way, the only ones that have that kind of connection are the Sovereigns, err, Stewards now! This is a rogue connection! And it was coming from the castle! That means the hacker would have to be inside the castle, but that's impossible!"

"Or at least inside our Constellation. (*Sigh*) I don't know…I don't think I'd throw out any explanation at this point."

"Either way, we should still reboot the system, you know, just to be safe."

"Totally!"

"(*Sigh*) just one more log to add to the fire, let's try to get to the bottom of that connection at least before the King and the others get back."

As Chip and Dale left the computer room, another new message came through on deaf ears.

"/YOUR WEILDERS ARE NEXT. THEY ARE ALREADY INSIDE YOUR CONSTELLATION. THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO. THEY ARE MINE. THEY ARE MINE. THEY ARE MINE. THEY ARE MINE -/"

**:Signal lost:**

**.**

AN: Anime introduced in this one is called Dennou Coil! A real diamond in the rough that one, it was in production for over 10 years, so alot of love went into making it, and it shows, that series is absolutely awesome X3

**Next Chapter:** The Disney Royalty seek council with Master Yen Sid, but what he has to say places great concern on the future of the Disney Wielders Sora and Riku as forces inside and outside the Disney Constellation coil for the attack.


	3. Creased Edges

AN: One month mission complete~!

.

.

.

"And thus you all have been called to a council of royals with the Stewards?" said Yen Sid, his eyes closed in deep thought.

"Yes," said Mickey.

Donald and Goofy were both holding their hats tightly, Minnie and Daisy had downcast looks in holding themselves properly, and Yen Sid had his hands clasped firmly and rooted on his desk.

"Hm," Yen Sid took a deep inhale, "This is most troubling news indeed," he opened his eyes, "but one that was foreseen."

The five of them gawked, "Master Yen Sid?" Mickey stepped forward, "What do you mean? You, you knew what the Sovereigns were doing…? The Evil Beyonds? When was this? When, why didn't you share this with us? They were the Lords over all Royals, the guardians of Astral Order and they went nuts! Entire Constellations wiped out because of this, virus–the Evil Beyonds, and now it's on its way here! Was there no way to prevent this? Master, please what is going on?"

Yen Sid listened dutifully to his student, and then answered clearly, "There is no rule higher than the Sovereigns. The words of an old man fell deaf on their ears long ago. As for the Evil Beyonds, what was there to be done that was inevitable?"

Yen Sid stood up from his chair amongst perplexed looks, "Comrades, my dear student, you remember my duties before the days when I retired to my Tower?"

"Well of course!" said Goofy, "You were a keyblade wielder, err, I mean _master."_

"You were also a part of the Sovereign Council," said Mickey in far off tone.

"Yes, I spent several years in the aid of the Sovereigns, a time I deeply regret." He walked over to his wide bookcase, scanning the titles, "The skills they drafted me for, the research I did, the work I performed" –

"Ah," Donald pondered, "Wasn't it something to do with trying to recreate the Light* within Kingdom Hearts? Something like a new security measure for the worlds?"

"Wasn't that because they foresaw the world borders not being enough?" asked Goofy, "(*GASP*) Were you a part of the research they were performing in trying to solve the problem of the Evils?"

"Indeed, measures that you know by now proved worthless. As for my specific research, I later discovered that it was being implemented in trying to recreate the Light* that _parted_ the World." He plucked a book from his collection and began to flip through the pages.

"Why did they want that kind of power?" Daisy blurted, "The worlds are already separated!"

"Was it something to do with combating the Evils then?" asked Mickey.

"With them gone, we may never know, but to acquire such power, they were stepping on the hem of knowledge long draped in shadow."

Mickey stepped up, remembering years and years ago how his Master would feverishly work into the night whilst he studied, his long absences…those same problems back then he dealt with are the ones facing them now, so why? "Why didn't you ever tell me anything? Our home has been at risk all this time from a threat that has the power to wipe out the sky!"

"What would it have done for the person that is unlucky enough to slip on a precipice too steep, or to sit under a pretty skylight when its rope finally wears thin? What is there to be done for the one who finally steps on a bridge that could bear no more weight then a decayed leaf? If the time came, it would come. The Laws dictate our concern cannot exceed our borders unless contacted upon from the Sovereigns; it was not your place to worry. These are forces well beyond our control Mickey. These are the forces that dictate existence. What could be done at the time was to live in our prime, and to carry on in the hopes that the development of the future would provide relief…The Sovereigns, grasped the future, and bent, and misshaped it into a coiled mockery of human achievement."

Yen Sid held up the book vertically to show a two page spread of a great stained glass window in the shape of a heart with a long upside down triangle filling it with emblems at each of its points. In the middle of the heart and triangle was a circle of seven other emblems and bleeding over the window, taking up a fair amount of space, were great beasts of white and blue eyes, and black and red eyes, interlocking a single paw as if to force one another back single handedly, mirroring one another's pose perfectly except for what differed in their anatomy. "There were rumors that they were making the Gates bleed, that they were trying to trap the Vertices…"

"The pillars of existence…" said Mickey slowly.

"That they were trying to create an alternate existence…These Evil Beyonds are more familiar than their title suggests, we have always known them, in a way," Yen Sid shook his head, "Either way, the Sovereigns were trying to control what has long eluded our capacity to reason…" he closed the book, "What was forbidden for us to reason."

"_Forbidden?"_

"By the time I left, I could feel a madness growing within their castle, threatening to swallow me whole if I had accepted a permanent position on their council. Alas, I only wish there was more I could have done except walk away…" he looked the five of them, "But what is done is done. They have left us in a most compromising position with this threat, not to say our position was already compromised to begin with."

Everyone was downcast; Yen Sid placed the book back in its proper place, swallowing thickly, what he was going to say wasn't going to make the mood any lighter either, "A terror so deep, they would try to bend existence when it was a part of existence itself they were fighting. And thus, existence itself is fighting back."

"Master?"

"Before I left the Sovereigns, I remember the Vertices of Heart, Aurocile, had manifested out of turn; stirred up quite the riot at the castle. Their worrying then doubled when the nameless Vertices of Death paid them a visit, and then the Vertices of Reason, Seritouge, followed not long after I left, and then my crystal ball could see no more of them. It was not but several days ago that my crystal ball was able to pick up on their energies again, after all these years, something that quite startled myself, and today, I can say with absolute certainty that all seven Vertices are manifested well out of turn, as well as the Deities"–

"The precursors of magic?" Donald gasped.

"Yes, all pieces of the physical plane are returning to life, have been returning to life…as it was when the World was 'whole'" Yen Sid propped his head up with his hand, rubbing his temples, "These revivals, their murders, the Evil Beyonds…My friends, something terrible is about to transpire….This is something that is well past the point of reconciling, this is something that will affect us all."

Mickey shook his head, "I refuse to accept that. We're all going to be called together just to be notified of something we can't do anything about? No way!"

"Yes, Nikkue was adamant that something was going to be done, at least for the Evil Beyonds," said Queen Minnie.

Yen Sid gave a tired look years and years long.

"We've come through protecting our Constellation against whatever threatened it," said King Mickey, "and we're going to do the same now! Only this time, they'll be a whole lot more of us!"

"Yeah!" piped Donald and Goofy.

"But it is such a shame that there can't be any contact between us except in such extreme times of crisis," said Minnie.

Yen Sid gave a sigh and a small nod, "Yes, but understand the protocol for contact of people from other worlds, much less other constellations. "

"Of course…"

Yen Sid cleared his throat and continued, "And as much as I would like to attend this meeting with you all, I'm afraid I cannot."

"Why not?" asked King Mickey with the same look as a child that about to be thrown off the deep end.

"I must attend to other matters that deal with our Constellation for the moment, Mickey, remember our discussion earlier on _that_ matter."

Mickey nodded; geeze after exploring Jiminy's journal and discovering Master Xehanort is still in the cracks, _now this?_

"Trust that we will have further discussions upon your return," Yen Sid continued, "but for now, focus your energy on that meeting, and the fate of the stars as a whole."

Mickey nodded again with a drop of his head.

"You have all turned out to have become splendid Royalty. Be strong in who you are."

Somehow that statement irked Mickey slightly in the same thread a final goodbye would.

"I will meet you all at your Castle upon your return from the meeting, and from there, we will gather Sora and Riku."

"What? Why? We were gonna go pick them up next," said Mickey.

Yen Sid shook his head, "You have forgotten for a council such as this, I'm afraid they don't have the title needed, the title of Master."

Mickey facepalmed.

"Tittle smittle!" spat Donald, "That's not fair! Goofy and I are going! Daisy's going! Why do they have to be held back by simple title?"

"I completely agree," said Mickey.

"You may not have royal blood, but you three are part of the royal court, you would be accepted, but I believe it would also be in their best interests not to attend due to unwanted calculating eyes."

"What does that mean?" asked Goofy.

Mickey stepped up, "But master, this is a time for us to come together, not be all shifty eyed with one another; this is a huge problem that needs all the help it can get!"

But then Nikkue's words then echoed in the back of Mickey's mind: _"If you and your court are to come in contact with other Royalty, there will be split second consequences for any misinterpretation spilled. I highly, HIGHLY, suggest that you dig up your Astral knowledge and prepare yourselves for the scrutiny of your peers!"_

"You are absolutely right," said Yen Sid, "But it pains me that the reality is different. We are uniting for a desperate cause, and desperate times call for desperate measures; Sora and Riku could be stolen right out from under us to be used for another's purpose."

The very thought sent chills up and down their spines.

"Oh my, surely they wouldn't do something so terrible?" said Minnie.

"Isn't the place going to be guarded like the dickens anyway?" asked Daisy, "Besides I'd like to see them try to even overpower our boys!"

Yen Sid shook his head again, "You are going to be exposed to ways, powers, and magic foreign to our own. Perhaps our neighbors would be friendly, perhaps the Stewards would be excellent moderators, but still, the Stewards are a Fabrication*, a creation of the Sovereigns who I would not put past foreseeing their own deaths and manipulating such a council for an objective of madness. The Stewards themselves take great pride in what they are, and from what they do, but that is the length of their mentality. Not to mention, but we do not know the state of our neighbors, or _their_ mentality of how this crisis has affected them."

"What an accusation…" Minnie pondered out loud.

"I'm sorry," said Yen Sid, "But please understand that caution is how this meeting must be perceived. If any Keyblade Masters are in attendance, trust that they are on a level far above where Sora and Riku stand today, and yet where I know they must be soon. Upon your return, they are to be tested for the Mark of Mastery."

Daisy and Minnie gave a subtle gasp.

"What are you going to be doing in the meantime Master?" asked King Mickey.

Yen Sid put his hands behind him in a clasp and looked over the mysterious horizon beyond his Tower, "I am going to speak with an old, acquaintance, perhaps with this threat coming to fruition his insights will have changed in regards to his current situation."

As much as Mickey wanted to crack the code his master was speaking in, a little feeling within whispered it was best not to, and to do as Yen Sid said and deal with the meeting first.

"Best of luck to you all Disney Royalty," said Yen Sid, "Remember, whatever cross they try to place upon you, remember that it is not one back it falls upon."

~*.*~

Sparkling waves washed over the beaches of Destiny Islands, the sand inhaling and exhaling every shy and return. A pair of feet made their indention upon the surface, the toes digging themselves in as the clear water washed over them, the reflection of an almond spiky mop, bright blue eyes, and a wide goofy smile on the verge of laughter glimmered back in-between the shimmer of sunlight upon the water.

"Oiy Sora–_HEADS UP–"_

"Huh?" he turned around just in time to smell the leather cover of a volleyball–BONK–knocking his head back, taking his entire body down along the way into a large determined wave that eclipsed the smaller one just before–

"Sorry Sora!"

The young teen blinked stars and Paopu fruits out of his eyes as Kairi (the intended target of the volleyball) stumbled up from her failed return of the pass to help Sora up from his more than wobbly stance.

"Are you okay Sora?–Geeze Waka, were you trying to kill me?"

"You said not to hold anything back! To pass to you as if I would pass to myself, yeah!"

"Tso al righ' Airi," Sora slurred, "Bidn't even hurt." A small drop of blood began to trickle down his nose.

"Of course since its just a scratch," said Riku as he jogged on the scene, taking over Kairi's propping up of Sora's body and helping (and hiding) the young wielder's unsteady hand laced with Cure* find its owner's face.

"Ow, wow," Sora commented as the haze of pain subsided under the glowing green flurries whilst he pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes growing wide with alarm that his battle conditioned body had performed magic in front of the uninitiated trio of friends –

"Don't worry, you're covered," said Riku tapping the guard that was himself, Kairi throwing in her own thumbs up to boot.

"Are you alright Sora?" asked Selphie with Tidus and Wakka in tow.

Sora stood up straight, "Yeah, yeah, no broken bones or anything."

"Wow, not even a bruise!"

"Heh heh…"

Wakka picked up his volleyball lounging in the incoming waves, squeezing it between his hands; the ball was as solid as could be. "T'eah, and here all this time I was thinking you be an airhead, but you're melon is solid as a rock!"

Sora knocked on his head playfully in response with a careful smile, Kairi getting a few playful knocks in too, "You bet," she added, "In more ways than one."

"Can we lay off the cheap shots for today?" Sora laughed gently pushing her hands away, Riku snuck in a knock from behind–"Hey!"

"Woah…"

Tidus' surprised eyes directed everyone towards the mainland where overhead large thick, thick, black, black storm clouds seemed to be stopped in mid-roll at the moment of their discovery.

"Well, this marks the end of today's hang out," said Selphie, "And just when the band was back together too."

"There's always tomorrow," said Tidus.

Off in the distance the village's bells began to ring, but with each ring, the sound bloated into a dull agonizing gong.

"That's weird," said Kairi.

"Ah it's just the trick of the wind with the storm yeah?" said Wakka, "Come on, let's get home before we get struck by the squiggly light."

"In the meantime just duck while we row back," scoffed Selphie.

Kairi turned towards Sora and Riku, both young men completely fixated on the imposing storm, both giving each other a knowing glance that this wasn't something normal for what the bells tolled.

Sora folded his arms, "Maybe it is just a thunderstorm."

"And yet somehow I highly doubt that," said Riku.

Sora gave a deep sigh and bent almost all the way forward, "Xehanort, Xemnas, you know I really wouldn't mind fighting a cloud for once."

"And yet you already have."

Sora gave a brief chuckle, "Well, when we're needed, our keyblades will show us the way. We haven't let the worlds down yet, and we're not about to start now."

Kairi placed a hand on each of their shoulders, walking in-between them whilst linking her arms in with theirs, picking Sora up to stand up straight again.

"You guys are over thinking this, the bells are a recording, it probably just malfunctioned," however her cheery voice didn't bring the young men out of their studying trance upon the storm, be it Keyblade Wielder intuition or other. Kairi squeezed their arms even tighter, "Whatever it is, I know you two can fix it," she smiled in a low whisper, "There's nothing you guys can't handle, even if it is just fixing an old bell recording."

"Hey!" Tidus called, "You guys come on! You can't be this scared of a teeny thunderstorm right?"

"Can't a lady have an escort to her boat?" Kairi called back with an elegant accent, making both her young men give breathless chuckles. She steered her boys down the dock to where their boats were tethered, and both gentlemen helped lower her as elegantly as possible, adding in a few elegant motions of their hands.

"You's a chevalier or a magician eh?" called Wakka.

"Both!" replied Sora with an inner smirk.

"Last one back to the mainland has to pick seagull eggs!" called Tidus.

"What are we, _five?"_

"Well when we were five, we fitted a lot better in these boats, yeah," Waka chuckled.

As Sora and Riku got into their boats with awkward footing from their larger and lankier teen bodies, Kairi lowered her gaze lowered down to stare at the wood inside her own small vessel as the waves steadily rocked her. Behind her glazed eyes, her mind wandered deep into the memories woven into her heart, what made her and Sora and Riku into who they were today. _So what now?_ "Oh…" Her heart hindered on a single stitch that felt like something was ever so slightly tugging it, introducing ever so gently the threat to unwind it.

_An invisible camera with a blue lens zoomed in on her, then Riku, then–_

She felt a light tap on her boat, it was Sora's oar, his kind eyes, and smile.

Kairi gave a wide smile back, and put her strength into rowing her boat back. An empty bottle floated past her tiny vessel, the current then sweeping it under the docks, and completely out of sight.

*Yes, Sora and Riku can handle anything, there's nothing* - a sharp crack of thunder split her train of thought right in two, making her jump.

"Wow, that one made me jump too," said Sora and out of the corner of his eye he saw Riku mouth the word "sap".

"I heard that!"

Another ear splitting crack of thunder broke the sky, then another, and another.

"Maybe we should row a little faster…"

"Sure, want to make a race of it?"

"Hey wait! You guys–don't leave me behind!"

~*.*~

_Constellation of the Evening Castle_–it has been over ten years since the old Master's attempt.

_Constellation of the Rising Sun_–it has been over ten years since the scientist's folly.

When they felt the shockwaves that created deep cracks to their very core, so too was the web shaken that had begun to ensnare the future, and several drops shook free.

Although neither of them succeeded with their original designs fruit was indeed sown from their labors, intended or otherwise, and the guardians of such labor now stand upon a violet shaded barren wasteland.

/We are Emotionless./

A discarded lump of ground within the Lanes Between they stand, gazing at a glorious night sky filled with tints of cosmic clouds and patterns of stars creating the constellations at hand.

Heartless: a shadow with a pink bow on its head, a tornado step wearing yellow wrist warmers.

Nobodies: a dragoon wearing a long flowing silver scarf at the base of its neck, a dancer wearing a faded rose ski cap on its head with flowers stitched on top and a long flowing ribbon stitched at the base; another a long flowing article is tied around its waist, a faded rose sash.

A lone Unvered, a flood, holding a toy wooden sword with a grip like glue.

And a breed whose name is hushed in the emotion of the stars, _dark_, this creature is shaped like a horse with a glowing yellow number sixty-six carved on its head, and a glowing yellow number four carved on its chest. Its mane and tail look like black cloth swimming in water, and its red eyes gleam like beacons. It wears feather hair extensions that glide easily on the unknown breeze that slowly swirls its mane and tail about.

/The Astral Shift is near/, speaks the dragoon in a noble, high-ended voice, /So shy it is…Now all that's left is to see the choice of the Door, they that will single handedly align the Gates to their median. At last, the World will have its Constellations align, and allow the Door of Light to fulfill its eternal promise to us all./

/He knows what it is like to be us,/ said the tornado step with a young voice, /The last wielder to have known what it's like to be us./

/He knows what it is like to be burned by the darkness/ said the flood with a voice more mature then its premature size, /to feel it gnaw on your being./

/And that is why, without fail, we will deliver these treasures to them in time/ said the dancer with a voice jaded, /For all the years spent and all our brothers and sisters lost at her red hand, we will not fail./

The little shadow with the pink bow waddled up, the depth of the stars glimmering in its hopeful yellow orbs, its voice that of a very young child, /We know your nambes, Sowa, Wiku. We know what the nambes of your angles are too. I hope, you neber have to meet them. They're bery, vewy mean./

_A shoreline, the flood remembers a shoreline, dark and cold, and the endless ripple it rode from the weave of a memory…When I woke up…_

.

.

.

Waves stood stagnant along a shoreline where none have treaded.

Black water remained motionless, portraying a deep abyss. A black burning hoof stepped upon the black pebble shore then followed by a decaying hoof; part of the same black horse. The decorated steed, with a headdress protruding two scythe blades on top, snorted embers and soot. The ebony fire from its mane and tail gave light to the water as it passed back and forth. The steed's rider was dressed in a black regal armor reminiscent of the armor of Keyblade Wielders, his helmet resembling the headdress of his steed.

Red light broke the surface of the water, a glint of molten lava flashed from the depths of the black ocean below.

An emerald stag walked up beside him; the creature a definition of posture and beauty, contrasted with a gaping gash in its throat which bled fresh blood from veins with not but supply. It's rider sat upon a saddle with the impression of heavenly wings on the stag's sides. Her knightly-armor seemed to emit a pale bioluminescent light.

The Black Rider pulled a rose-colored pouch from the side of his saddle full to the brim with what must have been pointy objects from all the little bumps that adorned it, and edged his steed to stand parallel with the waterline.

"Sentiment of the World," said the Green Rider looking to random bursts of red light from the depths below, "Accept this offering we bring you, know where our loyalty lies."

The Black Rider flipped the bag, and out fell a multitude of key chains, some with speckles of red upon them, all plopping into the darkness, all devoured by the abyss.

The random red lights stopped. From within the confines of their helmets, the Riders smiled. A white light began to emit from the black depths before bursting through the still surface with actual physical force, the steeds rearing up slightly from the spray of the black liquid. The beam of light raced up to the infinite black heavens revealing floating stained glass architecture of all glorious designs and shapes–a flash of light came from above, the beam reflecting off one of the windows, then another, and another, another–three at a time–six–eight–until the connection happened at the speed of light and every window was illuminated in the great darkness.

The horse and stag stepped in place, their nerves tightening.

B r i n g m e, m o r e . . . I n e e d m y h e a r t b a c k . . . p l e a s e . . .

"Well, if it is a heart you desire, we can bring you the heart of a _Sovereign Royalty."_

The Riders felt a sting in the air as the glimmering windows gave a deep shudder; a wave of exhilaration raced through the steeds making their breath faster, their nerves mumbling the bits in their mouths.

"But we need your powers to reach it; it is guarded under the sight of a most powerful Vertices."

_Whooh_~ **CRASH!** The steeds reared, the black horse screaming, both bucking out in surprise of the crashed window – the Riders quickly regained control over them with a stern heel to their sides and pull of the reins.

The Green Rider dismounted a bit ungracefully with her steed still prickled, and picked up several shards of the broken glass, their sharp discord edges seemingly vibrating with the intent of revenge long overdue.

S t a b i t s e y e s o u t.

The shards of the stained glass reflected a broken, distorted image of the Green Rider as she couldn't contain her laughter from bubbling up from the fluttering pieces of her own heart.

"Rejoice Sentiment of the Forgotten World!" yelled the Black Rider, "Nothing is whole, and nothing is broken, what was rightfully yours will finally be returned!"

All of the hovering windows shivered with frightful delight.

The black horse tossed its head up, and the emerald stag pawed the ground as its Rider mounted with a thick bag full of the revenge-tainted glass. Under the passing of one of the shivering windows, the two Riders and their steeds faded like shadows across the plains to worlds, "fragments", beyond.

"**Rejoice for the miracle of absolute unity is upon us once more."**

"**Rejoice for the killing of the New World before it is ever born."**

"**Rejoice for our vengeance; revival of the Astral War."**

_A young man clothed in a silk black hooded robe crawled from the water of the ocean to the beach of the small Island where children had gathered on long summer days. As the black clouds rolled in with the threat of thick stinging rain, his limps could no longer support himself, and he collapsed upon the sand where the waves made landfall_.

_The mercy of the Laws recognized that was the moment the Disney Constellation became involved in its demise._

….

**Next Chapter:** What lies within finally makes their presences known, one not so friendly, and one down right murderous. 


End file.
